The list of The 7 Wonders of the Ancient World is believed to have been created in the first century as greeks and epytians explored the area. Here we have them recreated with GIFs – how extraordinary!


The Colossus of Rhodes
This statue was of the Greek sun-god Helios. It was a symbol of victory. Though often portrayed straddling the entrance to the harbour this is not likely the case. It collapsed during an earthquake and the bronze was melted.
292 BC




The Great Pyramid of Giza
The largest pyramid built was built for King Khufu and is the only wonder still standing. For most of its existence it was the highest structure in the world.
2560bc




Hanging Gardens of Babylon
These fabled gardens may or may not have existed. They were built by King Nebuchadnezzar II for his wife.
565 BC




Lighthouse of Alexandria
Built by Ptolemy I and II it stood for 1600 years until it was destroyed by several eartquakes
280 BC




Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
Built by Mausolus as a tomb for himself and his wife. Thus mausoleum. It was eventually destroyed by catholic knights. The whereabouts of the bodies of Mausolus and his wife is unknown.
350 BC




Statue of Zeus at Olympia
Made of wood covered in gold it stood for 1000 years.
430BC




Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
This large temple (twice the size of the Parthenon). It was destroyed and rebuilt but eventually torn down by a Christian mob. In its place now stands one column.
6th century BC

It has now been over four weeks since we started our physical distancing. On the one hand it feels like yesterday, on the other, it seems like so long ago that we were carefree and unafraid of other humans. I hope you are keeping well! I mostly am! Oh, I have moments but generally, I keep busy, I have been attending webinars, I chat with friends, I workout, I stream some entertaining shows, and the days pass.

Under these circumstances I am still drawn to putting together virtual tours. In this case a few local and a few less local.

I am uncompromising as to what I believe is a virtual tour. To me, it is one you can navigate from room to room. And so they are getting harder and harder to find. If you find some to share let me know.


Bytown Museum
Ottawa
Virtual Tour




History Museum
Virtual Tour




Watson’s Mill
Manotick
Virtual Tour




Diefenbunker Tunnel
Car, Ontario Virtual Tour




Ontario Legislative assembly
Toronto, Ontario Virtual Tour




Dalnavert Museum
Winnigeg, Manitoba Virtual Tour




Dickson House
Kuwait City, Kuwait Virtual Tour

The Vatican have stunning virtual tours of 7 of their museums. There are several other museums but I’ve focused on those with virtual tours. The Vatican website is quite elaborate and beyond the virtual tours you can lose yourself for quite some time – not a bad idea at the moment.
[Read more…]

I hope you are tolerating your physical distancing well. As well as one can endure an unprecedented situation. If it can help, on a regular basis I post distractions from as well as information or tips on how to cope with this pandemic – check out my daily blogs at www.claudejobin.com or on Facebook at facebook.com/RealEstateOttawa/Ontario.

I found a great tour of former residences turned into museums in the City of Hamilton. Their site museumshamilton.com features fabulous virtual tours of their most important historical sites. The site is beautifully done and easy to navigate. At times these virtual tours can be a bit challenging to navigate, not so in this instance. You can navigate with clear arrows directing you to various rooms or via a floor plan if you prefer. You can go upstairs via the staircase or teleport yourself to the next floor. There’s an audio accompanying every room – which is fun unless you go back and forth then the guide doesn’t seem to remember that you’ve been to that room will repeat what was said, you might choose to mute her at that point. For additional information click on the magnifying glasses. The goal of the virtual tours is to distract you and send you virtual traveling from your armchair. I do believe these ought to do it. Enjoy!


Dundurn National Historic Site
Dundurn Castle is a neoclassical mansion completed in 1835. It is a 18,000 square foot 40 room castle. Aftter being purchased by the City of Hamilton it was restored to 1855.
Virtual Tour of Grounds
Virtual Tour of Castle



[Read more…]

As the world around us shuts down and we continue to live our lives creating more and more physical distancing I hope you are staying safe, taking care of yourself and your loved ones. These are difficult times! Something we’ve never experienced before. I was telling a friend yesterday it feels quite surreal and rather heavy. When taking a client out for a showing yesterday afternoon I wore gloves and suggested that for his safety and the owner’s safety he not touch anything. It was odd but it went well!

In the spirit of armchair tourism House Beautiful has made a selection of 10 historic homes that have virtual tours. I debated splitting this post in two but left it as one giving you several homes to tour and several hours of solitary activity.

Should you wish more activities, the other day I posted At Home Activities which features operas you can stream, museums you can virtually visit, books you can download, colouring books you can download and more. Just as I was about to post, I stumbled upon a post by Architectural Digest & CN Traveler which provides yet other virtual options.

And so…


Buckingham Palace
London, England
You may remember that we’d previously explored Buckingham Palace in a post Architurecture – Royal Residences.




Vizcaya Museu and Gardens
Miami, Florida




The Frick Collection
New York, New York




Monticello
Charlottesville, Virginia




Frida Kaylo Museum
Mexico City, Mexico




Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Boston, Massachusetts




Lyndhurst Mansion
Tarrytown, New York




Mount Vernon
Mount Vernon, Virginia




The Mark Twain House
Hartford, Connecticut




Blenheim Palace
Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England
Bleinheim Palace was previously featured in a the post Architect – Sir John Vanbrugh.

This is my third post on Diamond Schmitt Architects – I hope that’s ok? They are so prolific there may be a fourth. So rarely are we exploring a Canadian architect we must make the best of it. Click here for Part 1 where we linked to the newly introduced Ottawa Public Library (OPL) and Library and Archives Canada (LAC). Click here for Part 2.


Computer Science and Engineering Building, University of Michigan
2005, Ann Arbor, Michigan




Ontario Science Centre, Weston Family Innovation Centre
2005, Toronto, Ontario




The Banff Centre Campus Master Plan and Implementation
2005, Banff, Alberta




The Esplanade, Medicine Hat Performing Arts and Heritage Centre
2005, Medicine Hat, Alberta




University of Guelph, Humber Academic Building
2005, Toronto, Ontario




Four Seasons Centre for Performing Arts
2006, Toronto, Ontario




University of Windsor Medical Education Building
2006, Windsor, Ontario




Banff Centre, Sally Borden Building
2007, Banff, Alberta




Harman Centre for the Arts Shakespeare Theatre
2007, Washington, DC




City Hall
2008, Cambridge, Ontario




Life Sciences Centre, McGill University
2008, Montreal, Quebec




Southbrook Vineyards
2008, Niaga-on-the-lake, Ontario




University of Ontario, Institute of Technology Master Plan and Academic Buildings
2009, Oshawa, Ontario

Yvonne Farrell, born in 1951, in Tullamore, Ireland, and Shelley McNamara, born in 1952, in Lisdoonvarna in County Clare, Ireland, met at the University College Dublin and subsequently founded Grafton Architects in 1974. Since then, they have built numerous buildings large and small all over the world. They specialize in institutional architecture. Their buidings, no mater the scale, are cognicent of inner spaces suitable to human scale. Farrell and McNamara were awarded the 2020 Pritzker Prize earlier this week. [Read more…]

Today let’s explore the work of a man who studied architecture, then veered into another direction to become a celebrated designer, artist, and surrealist: Pedro Friedeberg. Friedeberg was born in Italy in 1936 of German parents. He now lives in Mexico City. A few days ago I stumbled into pics of his home in Mexico City. His home, redefines the maximalist look and makes me look like a minimalist (not an easy feat).





Obsessed as I am with chairs, as evidenced in my Pinterest chair board I must admit I never paid too much attention to his famous hand-chair. A mistake which is now being corrected. I wish I had enough room to place one somewhere! After writing this post I’ll explore my living room and dining room and see where oh where…




Jonathan Adler and Simon Doonan’s West Village home makes use of the gilded version of the hand at the head of their dining room table. Their flat has a surrealist feel which I’m sure would make Friedeberg happy. Can I say surrealist but toned down – well see for yourself. Adler is a fabulous potter, desinger and author. Doonan is the Ambassador-at-Large for Barneys the clothing store.




This is somehow reminding of an earlier post featuring Tommy Hilfiger’s Miami home. Given a choise (I know, I know it’s not been offered) I’d be in Adler and Doonan’s home. Not a great fan of Hilfiger’s boldly patterned home. But of course today after exploring Friedeberg, Adler, and Doonan’s homes this seems more toned down than it did a few days ago. Thoughts? Comments?




Other pieces by Friedeberg include:


Chair for an Inca Princess




Desk




Pink Butterfly Chair




Please Help Me




Tiger Table




Should any of these pieces strike your fancy you can shop for them on 1stdibs. Just remember this is not just furniture it is art and so the prices are not for the faint of heart.


I took to this coffee table. Only to discover it was $39,000. I think it will have to wait a moment or two. For now I will continue to use my antique suitcases.




Putting an end to our design exploration for today I leave you on a distinct, but similar look; Christian Lacroix’s apartment in Paris. I hope you’ve enjoyed our surealist exploration!